Kinneary v City of New York, ____F.3d____(2d Cir. March
19, 2010), is an interesting 2d Circuit employment discrimination case. A sludge boat captain with a shy bladder, by not providing an adequate
physician's note, failed to take advantage of the accommodation he
sought and thus he was unable to make out a claim under the ADA. In his
position at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP), the captain was subject to federally regulated random drug
testing. At the time of his first drug test, the captain could not
urinate on command, even after staying at the lab a full day and
drinking water. Returning to the lab the next day, he eventually
provided a sample. The captain had similar problems with random drug
tests throughout his employment. He asked DEP if he could instead take a
blood test and was told to get a doctor's note. The DEP did not accept
the note and he was ultimately discharged. The DEP gave the captain the
accommodation he sought and the opportunity to have his drug test cancelled
based upon his physician's evaluation. However, the captain failed to
take advantage of the accommodation. The physician's note did not
constitute a basis for his test to be cancelled because it did not say
the captain had a medical condition that could preclude him from
providing a sufficient amount of urine for the test.

Comments

I saw the doctor's note online. It clearly stated that Kinneary had this problem, but the NYCDEP decided to split hairs on this.
In my opinion, employers turn down those with shy bladder since it gives them a "positive" for the urine drug test to balance out the "negatives" for those who do drugs & are never properly tested.